My, this was incredibly, incredibly fascinating information. Lots of words, lots of new knowledge for Researcher to take it in. She clapped her hands with glee, though her crystalline face remained a faint smile.

"Baby... baby. Am I baby?" she mused, her mind inspecting the new word as if it were a dessert. "Dad-- give life... stag... elk... okay, you're really cool." this was the kind of pure awe the ape would rarely show again in her later life. She held a furred hand out, petting Karyo, trying to gently wrangle the pup back now she knew how overwhelmed Thalia was. "Okay, let's all give her some space. I do not desire any eating. One question--" she pointed towards the structures with her free hand-- "can you show us how 'Dad' made those? They look fascinating."

FIELD REPORT:

Cortex listened to Thalia intently, brows furrowed as he stared (rather rudely).

> Update: 'Purple thingy' is called 'Thalia'. According to her, I am 'baby.'

"What is a baby?", he wondered, turning to stare at the tents again, claws tapping against the ground.

He watched Researcher wrangle Karyo and hung back for a moment, observing silently. His photographic memory assured that not a detail would be forgotten, for which he was grateful for. His fingers itched to do something though, so he stood up and walked towards one of the urns, nose tilted up to scent what was inside.

Cortex stood up on his hind legs and peered inside, jumping up to stick his head in, only to find his claws slipping. He gasped and scrambled backwards, but it was too late. He fell inside the urn and landed on the bottom, scrunched up into an awkward ball.

"Ahem... it seems I require some assistance," he called out, rather embarrassed.

@Thalia

The pup's barrage of questions had Thalia's grin twisted into half-confusion as she struggled to keep up--but it was good-natured confusion. She was happy enough to have surprise company; vibrant life was nice to have around. "Big? Uh, yeah I guess so--oh no, he cut them d--um, awhile? Wait, how long does what--stag? I was--I was sleeping--hold on," she requested (and Researcher was then pulling Karyo away, anyway).

She paced a bit away, lifting a jar of water and slipping the skin from its top. This she chugged, long gulps with her head thrown back. She almost choked when Researcher called her 'really cool,' emphasis on the 'really,' but managed to get the water jar down enough to offer the primate a big grin. "Hey, thanks. You guys, too. Oh," and the 'oh' was because the baby raccoon was face-down in an urn.

Thalia snorted.

She set down her water, wiped her mouth with the back of one forearm, and paced over to gently pull Cortex free--setting him down on the ground, if he allowed it, all the while talking. "A baby's, like, fresh life. You hatch out, then you grow bigger. You guys'll probably get bigger," she explained, but with a casual attitude that said she both wasn't sure if that were true and wasn't sure if it would matter. "It's just... sort of a thing that happens to everyone."

She made her way over to one of the logs, and flopped down to sit on it. Beside it was her goal, for the moment: a pile of skins and furs not yet allocated to any particular use. Some were destined to be blankets or new tents; others would become armor, clothing, or makeshift towels and the like. "So... my family's gotta kill Lessers to eat. I don't know if you guys do-? If you eat meat, or whatever; I don't, really. But anyway, they don't like stuff to go to waste." She lifted up one of the more supple leathers, running a hand over its soft structure; it was the hide of a Jungle Deer, a dull blue-green with darker stripes visible as leftover skin pigment. "So--it's kinda gross, but--he... Dad, I mean. Skins what he catches? You take the skin off, before you... cook the meat," she explained, with a brief wince. Really, it was pretty awful, when you thought about it. "And he keeps it flexible--uses water, or a lot of movement, or other stuff, and tans it. I think he's used brains before. After that, it usually stays soft. You can put stuff onto it to make it more waterproof; I think he's got, like, diagrams around somewhere... And then he ties them up, wraps them on the wood. I mean, first he puts the wood up," she clarified, still struggling to think past the just-having-woken-up bit.

"So he makes like, a hut shape, or a pointy shape, out of wood? Stuff he's cut down. Or bent. And then lays the hides over it, and ties them up. And it keeps water from getting in; it keeps the inside of the tent warm. I'm not great at explaining but--you get the idea?" she asked, with a shrug, gaze travelling over the mysterious visitors.

"You guys are welcome to stay, if you want to? We can help you get started, like--food, shelter, water. I'm sure we could teach you a little about magic, too, and finding your own food? It's nice to see new faces; where are you guys from?"

She was finding her stride, now--a little more awake--and her demeanor was open, welcoming and friendly. There was genuine curiosity in her question, too; she wanted to know more about these kids, with their sudden group arrival and their inquisitive, friendly minds.

@Karyo

The slightest of frowns crossed Karyo's face. Purple-friend was answering their questions, yes, but they were only partial phrases and not really answers. They opened their mouth, about to repeat their questions, when Researcher-friend reached out to pull them back. They hesitated, resisting the gibbon's pull for a brief moment. But I want answers--!

But Researcher-friend did seem to be right about Thalia needing space, and they liked Researcher too much to resist for long anyway. Purple-friend did look a bit overwhelmed. Not really understandable, at least not to Karyo, but they supposed they could be patient just a little longer.

"You like the tents, Researcher-friend? Let's make some tents for you! For all of us! I'll help!" Karyo promised, though they weren't yet sure how they could help, as a young puppy without hands. But I can figure something out! They figured lots of things out already; what was one more task?

The skins were a curiosity, and one that they didn't understand even after Thalia's explanation. The first question, of course, was-- "You don't eat skins? Why?" they blurted. "And what is cook? Why don't they rot?" Karyo wrinkled their nose, trying to go over what Thalia had said again. The process they understood, but why did it work?

Also, "Where's the stag?" That question had gone unanswered, but Karyo was determined not to let it stay that way. Ah, but Thalia had question too! They couldn't let those go unanswered either. "Yes! I like seeing your face too! Nice face! I'm from by the river with the dam!"

@Assistant

Researcher's pale eyes were alight. "Okay-- wow. Wow. Babies..." she mused on the word. Funny. She was baby. "A thing that happens to everyone? Can you imagine that, Cortex?" The ape looked over at where the raccoon was stuck in a jar and tried not to laugh. Today was going good.

The blond quietly tailed after Thalia, watching her strange, prancing gait with wide eyes. When she brought out the leather her delicate fingers gingerly prodded the hide, it's rubbery texture alien and exciting. Oooh, this was so so cool! The experimentation she could try with this! Even the mention of brains didn't deter her, creepily enough. She just wondered how she'd get it out of their headcases. Researcher's head ticked over towards the wooden frames, absorbing all her words like a sponge, and back again oh-so-curious.

"That's-- gosh. I have to put this somewhere." her fingers tapped fervently against her crystal mask in accord with each innocent word. "I do, Karyo, I like them really much. It's really cool. Maybe we can go even stronger... like... cave walls! Cave walls are very strong. What if we made a wall tent?"


The gibbon stood up straight- or, as straight as an ape can go. "Thank you! Me and Assistant come from the cold tunnel. If... they're around here..." Wait, where did they go? Eh, best not to worry about it. "But I think we can figure the rest ourselves. We're very smart! I'd like less slippery caves anyways." she announced proudly, before turning back to the gang and whispering, "We are smart, right?" Just as quickly she turned back. "Thank you, half-stag-half-elf!"

As distracted and aloof as the kitten seemed, wandering off on their own, they were still very much listening as the other talked. Not listening WELL, mind you, but still catching most of it. Dad. Babies. Cortex getting stuck. Lesser meat. Skins
Their 'investigations' of the urns quietly tapered off as Thalia got more and more of their attention. They went still with rapt attention, luminous yellow eyes wide in an seemingly unblinking feline stare. Quickly, they forgot about being sneaky, or why they had started being sneaky in the first place.

Seemingly manifesting out of nowhere, Assistant trotting up to the rest of the group, right on que. "Im right here!" They chirped, sitting down next to Researcher. "You talk a lot! About uh- a lot!" They'd tell Thalia, before adding "You know many things! I wanna learn many things too! but.." They'd glance back at Researcher, "We are very smart! We can figure it out! I think.."

@Cortex I think???

FIELD REPORT:

Cortex wiggled in Thalia's grasp and shook himself off as he was set down, turning to peer at the humanoid, "... Thank you."

He scuttled back towards Researcher and sat on his haunches, hands held above the ground as he linked his 'fingers' together like he was some kind of evil villain.

"I can imagine that. We are very smart," he said to Researcher, soaking in everything that Thalia said, putting it away for later.

> To make 'leather', one must 'skin'* an animal, rub brains into the skin, and stretch it across a board to dry. The resulting product is waterproof and thick, and might be insulating as well. Further testing must occur.

> 'Skinning' is cutting the skin off of an animal as neatly as possible to maximize surface area.

Cortex looked at the others and blinked slowly, analyzing. He peered further into Eridanus and tapped on Researcher's shoulder gently to get her attention.

"We must go and find a dry cave now that we have the knowledge to make tents," he said.

@Thalia @Researcher
Don't forget to tag me too-

Thalia took a seat, and leaned over to open one of the other closed-topped jars. She pulled out a few dried fruits, and set them out on a stump in front of her. From another she took a few strips of dried meat; she laid these beside the fruits.

"Here's some food, if any of you want," she offered amiably. "It's pretty tough and dry but there's water, there, too. Uh, a note," she said, nose scrunching up as she realized she'd missed a pretty important bit of information--"Dad only kills--like, we only kill and eat--Lessers. You know what those are-? Animals with, like, no intelligence. They can't talk, right? We don't go around killing sentient things. Things that can talk, and think," which didn't really make it great but, well, it was something. But the last thing she wanted was to find out later she'd accidentally directed a bunch of kids to hang up sentient Gembound skins on sticks...

The pup was rattling off questions again, and Thalia took a bit of dried fruit, herself, tugging a piece off and chewing it as she listened. She did her best to provide answers, though most were given with a mouthful of food. "Uh, y'can't eat skins, really. No good for eating. If you cook with the skin on it's okay but with fur, you've gotta take the fur off and there's better uses, you know? Like, well. Leather. Stuff rots if it's got a gemstone on it. But you can't rely on that, you can't always see it. Like, uh, sometimes it's inside them? But as long as you get the skin off before they rot, it doesn't. I dunno why," she admitted, with an indifferent shrug. She'd never really thought about it. "The stag's my dad. My other dad. Pride. He lives in Orion--know where that is? Back that way? He's real good with magic; he knows a lot of stuff," she added, with a wink to Karyo. If the pup wanted someone to pepper with questions, well, Pride could deal with that. He'd just love it. Maybe.

River? Dam? She squinted, and then her eyes popped wide in recognition. "Oh! Polaris? Neat. Don't mess with the Spire there, it'll mess you up. But it's a good cave for magic." The 'face' remark briefly stalled her in confusion, but then she realized that Karyo had taken the whole "new faces" thing quite literally. She grinned at them.

She popped the rest of the piece of fruit into her mouth, chewing as she listened next to Researcher. 'Cold tunnel' didn't really narrow it down--there were a few of those--but she just tilted her head and smiled, gesturing. And, again with a mouth full, she spoke (words still a little garbled by it, but understandable enough). "Mmm, like, uh-" (chew, swallow) "The really mountainous one? Or?" She beamed at the primate. "You're welcome." She watched her examine everything, content.

Oh--a cat..! Assistant stepped out, all feline stealth; Thalia hadn't even noticed them, before. She grinned delightedly. "Yeah, man, I'll talk about whatever!" she responded agreeably; "And, uh, sure. If you ever want to ask stuff, though, you can. Or just hang out, here. Want some food?" she offered again, this time nudging a bit of dried meat (she was pretty sure this one was a carnivore) toward the black cat. "So--what do I call you? Uh, actually, do any of you have names?" She realized, belatedly, that they hadn't given any--she thought. Maybe she'd missed it?

The little raccoon spoke of dry caves, and--helpfully--Thalia considered. She scrunched up her nose again, pondering. "There's a lot of dry caves, if that's what you're looking for. Monoceros is pretty good for it, and I think most of the dragons have moved out. That's, uh--that way, through that tunnel there; then out through Orion and through the tunnel with the statues and broken shit. Stuff. Broken stuff," she corrected herself hastily. No sense in teaching the babies swearwords right off the bat, huh?

"There's a desert cave, past Canis--the cave full of bones. They call the desert Hydra, but don't go there," and her warning was solemn, now. "It's a lot of sand and stuff, I hear, but it's deadly. Like, Gembounds always die when they go in there, or something. I dunno. Lemme see. I think most places are wet, otherwise. Orion itself is pretty dry, though-? You could ask Pride to show you around. The stag. He's white, if you see him--like a deer, with a lot of tall white antlers, and diamonds on his neck." In her mind, she ran through the other caves she knew, mapping them out thoughtfully. She hadn't been everywhere, and most of the new caves were still a bit of a mystery to her. Pisces--that's wet as hell. Waterfalls and shit. Cetus, that's a whole swamp. Polaris has a lot of water, I guess. Fornax is an ocean.

"Some of the tunnels are pretty dry, and Canis might be, I dunno. But you don't really need dry once you have the skins, I guess. The tents keep the rain out, mostly," she explained, patting the side of the nearest affectionately.

@Karyo

Karyo wagged their tail at the offer of food. "So weird!" they exclaimed, choosing a strip of dried meat and gnawing on it. "Chewy," they informed their friends. "But still tasty!"

Then the hound went quiet for a while as they considered Researcher's plans and Thalia's advice—apart from the chewing, that was. "Cave walls don't bend," they offered helpfully. "So I don't think we could make those into tents. Maybe we could try to make a smaller cave!"

As for Thalia's advice only to kill 'lessers', as she called them—"How do you know they don't talk?" Karyo asked curiously. "The ones I eat make sounds all the time! What if they talk to each other and we just talk in different ways?"

Their eyes widened at the promise of magic, and someone who knew even more stuff than Thalia did. "I've never seen someone do magic! Can you show me some? Please? It sounds amazing! Magical!"

@Researcher